~ Back to the blog … Gotcha Day

Well it has been rather  a long time since I posted on here, so hello to anyone who is still out there.

Earlier this week, we celebrated the Gotcha Day of one of our rescue dogs. It was nine years since we adopted him from Bath Cats & Dogs Home. I met him while I was volunteering there, giving some of the dogs Reiki healing. He was a very nervous soul who had recently arrived at the rescue, from another centre. I fell in love and eventually felt we were in the position to offer him a home.

I made him a special cake this year, as you can see from the photos (taken with my phone) below. It was fish-based; otherwise I would have been tempted to try it myself! The dogs have certainly enjoyed it:)

Gotcha Day, cake, Bath Cats & Dogs Home, Pet Photography

When Labradors Go Bad … ;-)

When Labradors Go Bad, Pet Photographer, Pet Photography UK, black Labs

A little humour on this cold day.

Photos taken last night, as we snuggled up on the sofa, keeping warm:)

Stay safe this weekend.

Chocolate Box Sniffer

Well Friday was day two of our seven days of raw vegan juicing. I am really glad we have decided to do it, but I can’t deny it’s tough at times.

I absolutely ADORE dark chocolate and I buy lovely stuff, such as raw vegan chocolate. I would so love to sit down with a cup of coffee and a raw vegan chocolate pie/brownie/truffle right now. So. Love. To.

I confess that I have at times been grabbing an empty little box of Booja Booja raw vegan truffles that I haven’t yet recycled … and sniffing the inside! Oh dear. Only a few more days to get through and then I can indulge myself a little.

Chocolate Box, raw vegan truffles, Booja Booja

So, getting back to the juicing, my lovely husband went shopping for more fruit and vegetables on Friday and this is his trolley. It certainly looks lovely and healthy, doesn’t it?:)

Juice trolley, raw vegan, juicing

I think this is the first juice we had on Friday morning, a nice fruity one. I must say, although it’s quite a struggle to not partake of anything else, the juices ARE really tasty.

Juicing, raw vegan, orange

We did have a few avocados that needed eating up, so we had a small raw vegan salad with some tomatoes and soaked almonds because we didn’t want to see food go to waste. It felt like the most amazing, tasty meal ever!

Salad, raw vegan

We are drinking as much filtered water as we want and we also had some coconut water, straight from the coconut, on Friday. I figured this is the closest to wine I am going to get for a little while!

Coconut corkscrew, raw vegan, juicing

This must be our darkest juice to date. It included beetroot, which is not my favourite thing by any means, but with the mix of other fruit/veg, it tasted fine and it’s all for my greater good, after all.

Purple juice, raw vegan, juicing

My husband has just asked if I would like half a coconut juice. For a few excited seconds I thought he was offering me half a can of Coke. Noooooooo.

Our new tool.

Happy New Year. My husband bought this new tool, to help us improve our lives!

black tool, juicing, raw vegan

Stop sniggering at the back there.

We have, of course, acquired … a juicer.

We have started a week of juicing, to help boost our health as we kick off a new year. Raw, vegan juice. LOTS of fruit and vegetables and herbs. I am taking lots of photographs and I decided I would write a few blog posts about it, as a record of my experience.

I haven’t weighed myself prior to starting because, while I certainly won’t complain at losing a bit of weight, my aim is to FEEL better and I will know how I’m progressing without having to stand on scales. This year is all about how I want to feel.

juicing, raw vegan

It is difficult! We started on Thursday, though I did have a banana in the morning, before we were ready to juice, as I was just about falling over by then. I also confess to grabbing a few organic cherry tomatoes later in the day, because it was that or chocolate.

This was our very first drink of our juicing adventure. It was very green, packed full of goodness and rather (surprisingly) tasty:)

Juice, raw vegan, green

This was the second juice of the day – we only had two that day as we had started so late in the day. This one was more of a soupy juice and from memory, was pretty good too.

juicing, raw vegan

I didn’t feel particularly great on the first few days. I had a headache and felt grotty. I’ve been eating a vegan diet since last spring anyway, after being a vegetarian for a long time, but still it is SO hard not to reach for the chocolate, or make a coffee or grab something I’d usually eat. I am placing an order for raw vegan chocolate so that I have some to treat myself with once this week is over.

We have been inspired by our friend Ben, who has a new YouTube channel – click here to Experience True Health. We have also been watching videos from Dan, the liferegenerator, and been amazed by the progress made by the likes of Dave The Raw Food Trucker and those featured in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

I will be back with another post soon. I’m not sure how the next few days will go, or quite what we will do after these seven days are up, but it will be good to look back and see what we managed.

~ Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness ~ Allen Ginsberg

Christmas Blogger Challenge

A few days ago, I saw a link on twitter about a fantastic Christmas Blogger Challenge from GJW Titmuss, which is very kindly giving away a pet stocking filled with pet friendly gifts from its website, up to a value of £200, to one lucky person!

I saw that rather than taking the goods selected for their stocking, the winner could request a £200 GJW Titmuss voucher. My immediate thought was that I could use it to buy food for my dogs – I place regular orders for food with GJW Titmuss (in fact you can see the latest delivery in the photo below) and the voucher would be very handy. Then I had a chat with my dogs, who asked Where’s the fun in that, Mum? We want toys and treats!

We have had a very sad few months, since our beloved Mr Moo passed away and it will be the third year running where we have been without another precious rescue dog, having said goodbye to Cassie and Jasper in previous years. I want this Christmas to be full of fun for our remaining three rescue dogs and with that, I hand you over to my dear Minnie-Moo, who will tell you what our dogs would love in their Christmas stocking, should they be lucky enough to win:)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, I’m Minnie-Moo, a rescue Labrador who sometimes has to pose for silly photos like this one. Don’t worry, my Mummy is very lovely to me. I have been posing for her since I was very young and I am always well rewarded with treats.

Minnie, Labrador, Antlers, Christmas, rescue dog, GJW Titmuss

We have had a good look through the GJW Titmuss website to see what we would love to have in our pet stocking and have put together a list of goodies, as shown in the photo below:)

We have chosen:

A large cuddly Winston Walrus – this is for my little rescue sis, Daisy, who sometimes looks a bit like a very cute seal and who loves to snuggle. She used to cuddle up with Mr Moo a lot, but now she mostly has to make do with Mummy and Daddy. We think she would really like Winston.

A Clix Agility Jump – Mum did buy us one before, but then she ran over part of it with the lawn mower. We think Daisy would like this as she loves jumping onto and over things and she didn’t get to try the last one before Mum broke it.

An Air Kong Spinner, medium; An Air Kong Stick with rope, large; and at the bottom, an Air Kong Bowling Pin, medium. We love Air Kong toys, but we haven’t tried the Spinner or Bowling Pin yet. We did have a new Air Kong Stick to play with, but then Mum gave it away in a prize she made up for Oldies Club, a charity she fundraises for, before we got to play with it, so we’d love a replacement!

A Luxury Sherpa Throw – this looks lovely and cosy, so we thought we could put this on Mum & Dad’s bed and then, when we get up for snuggles, we’ll all be cosy:)

A pink Kong Snugga Wubba, large – Daisy likes flinging these around the house and seeing who she can hit and I would rather like one of my own.

A Timberwolf Cushion (90cm) – Mum helped me a bit with this one as I needed to use a tape measure. We would love this for the dog bed in the kitchen as it would mean we had a nice snuggly cushion to lie on while we watch Dad cook yummy food. At the moment we have to lie on hard plastic. OK, that’s a little fib, but still, we think this cushion would be extra snuggly!

A red Classic Kong, large – this would mean Daisy had one just like mine, to be stuffed with yummy things when Mum & Dad go out.

Fish4Dogs treats – we really love these and have some as our bedtime snack, so some more packets of these would be really appreciated. We chose two packets of the Fish Twists and one packet each of Fish Bones, Tiddlers and Sea Biscuit Tiddlers to fit within the budget.

We calculated that this all comes to: £133.15, which is much less than £200 because we have something very special in mind for the rest of the money, should we be fortunate enough to win …

… We have also selected …

… An Ancol Fleece red/black, large.

An Envy Henna Collar, in green (350-500mm).

A Luxury Sherpa Throw.

A Marrow Bone, extra large.

Fish4Dogs treats – a packet of Sea Jerky Fish Twists, plus two packets of Sea Jerky Tiddlers.

Mum worked out that these extra bits add up to £66.59, taking our grand total to £199.74!

We have chosen these additional items as we would love to give them as a fantastic Christmas present for dear Upton, an older Staffie cross boy, who has been waiting in rescue for his forever home, for many years (about eight, Mum thinks).

Mum has met him several times at Bath Cats & Dogs Home and photographed him for her blog, when she’s volunteered at the Home, and she knows he loves to snuggle up in his bed in his kennel, so we think the Sherpa throw would be appreciated. The fleece jumper would help keep him warm through the Winter months and he would look very smart in the green collar. We hope the marrow bone would help occupy him in his kennel and we are sure that he would appreciate the fish treats – maybe he would even share a few with some of the other long stayers at the rescue?

Mum says the rescue does a wonderful job of caring for the animals, and while we would all love to see them all in a home of their very own, we hope that should we win, these goodies would help Upton to enjoy some more home comforts:)

Please wish us good luck!

Upton, Christmas, Bath Cats & Dogs Home, rescue dog, GJW Titmuss

Upton

 

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